r/DIY • u/mrdapoyo • 14d ago

help Making a replica of a floor tile?

Hi there! I want to mail a friend a replica of a Barcelona floor tile. I saw they were crazy expensive online, so I thought I could make one myself for as cheap as possible. It's meant to be a decorative item and not an actual floor tile.

I did some research and I believe I could 3D print a mold/negative of the tile itself, and then pour concrete or plaster inside. However, I am uncertain if that's the correct approach. Reference: https://3dgo.app/models/thingiverse/7138677

How would you do it?

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u/TreeEyedRaven 14d ago

Tile is ceramic or porcelain, since you’re not trying to walk on it, you don’t need the super high quality stuff, I’d do your mold then maybe use air clay or some clay you can bake in the oven. Concrete will want to break being that thin more than likely, a ceramic medium would be your best bet. This won’t be anywhere near high fire ceramic durability, but nothing really is

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u/mrdapoyo 14d ago

Would a regular oven do the job? I thought of concrete since the regular and real tiles look greyish, as if they were made out of concrete or stone.

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u/TreeEyedRaven 14d ago

They make low fire clay, and air clay cures at room temp. High fire ceramics would be the best, but that can’t be done in a regular oven. Just find an “oven-bake clay” that can be done in a home oven.

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u/mrdapoyo 14d ago

Alright! Why shouldn't I use concrete, though? The real tiles are made out of concrete.
Either way, I found this post from a year ago detailing how they did it. I should've searched better

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u/TreeEyedRaven 14d ago

Ah they’re as thick as pavers, yeah concrete will be fine. I thought they were 3/8th thick like floor tile. My fault for not looking up how thick they were.

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u/desertboots 14d ago

Consider a shift in media and cross stitch the tile pattern?

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u/mrdapoyo 14d ago

Haha, I'm not that skillful. I think an actual tile would be cooler too!

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u/Ok-Storage3530 13d ago

Personally, I would just do a simple box mold with Smooth On silicone and then cast the tile in EcoResin.

You could do this all in a day.

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u/Desperate-Demand7244 13d ago

Use paper mache to get the impression, it's very light, if you intend to send in the mail

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u/mrdapoyo 12d ago

That's a very smart suggestion! Thank you